New archaeological discoveries at the site of the ancient city of Callatis
Tumular Necropolis of the Ancient City of Callatis
Steliu Lambru, 16.07.2025, 19:48
Recently, a joint team of archaeologists from the National History Museum of Romania and the “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology of the Romanian Academy announced exceptional discoveries at the site “Tumular Necropolis of the Ancient City of Callatis”, on the site of the current city of Mangalia, a port on the Black Sea. A series of artifacts from the “treasure” category were identified, such as gold, glass and bronze ornaments, more precisely three funeral wreaths with gilded bronze leaves. Two sarcophagi with carved and painted elements made of limestone and marble were also identified. In addition, numerous fragments of ancient wood were identified, some still preserving traces of pigments, human bones and ceramics in a burial mound that contained a processed stone tomb covered with a semi-cylindrical vault. The mound is the largest so far in southern Dobrogea, measuring 12 meters high and 70 meters in diameter, visible from the sea.
The artifacts date back to the 3rd century BCE. The imposing funerary monument belonged to a wealthy and influential Greek family from Callatis, connected to religious and political models of Macedonian influence. The tomb is very well preserved, the work of an experienced architect, and is notable for its size. So far, the stone construction has been identified as 18 meters long, but research continues, especially in the access corridor sector. The human bones identified so far belong to at least two different individuals, one aged 16-18 and the second aged 8-11. According to certain artifacts, at least one of the individuals can be assumed to be female.
Archaeologist Dan Ștefan outlined the period from which the discoveries come.
“After Alexander died, those who came after him tried to continue, for better or for worse, the work he had begun. Few people know that the Danubian world that we know, that we often talk about, the local populations, the Getae, the cities of the western Black Sea, were all involved, all drawn into this complex political game. And here are the results, we see them today after thousands of years.”
Callatis was founded by the Greeks of Heraclea Pontica and Megara at the beginning of the 4th century BC and was one of the richest and most influential Greek cities on the Black Sea in the 4th-3rd centuries. It led a regional coalition of Greeks, Thracians and Scythians that opposed, at the end of the 4th century BC, the Macedonian king Lysimachus, who had inherited control of Thrace after the death of Alexander the Great.
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